Pittsburgh 28 - Miami 17 -- In a perfect start to the NFL season, Thursday nights game between the Steelers and the Dolphins was filled with twists, turns, and a bit of controversy. For those of us who took advantage of the Mansion free Steelers bet offer, there is no question that Joey Porter is our hero today after his 11th hour interception to cover the spread.

It is fair to say I was a bit worried when the Dolphins were up 17-14 over the Steelers in the fourth quarter. Then the Steelers started on their 81 yard drive to take them to the 1 yard line and I was feeling pretty good. In a moment you had to see to believe, a Charlie Batch fumble on the 1 yard line and recovery by Miami dashed the hopes of a Pittsburgh touchdown as well as hopes of covering the initial -5 spread.

On Pittsburgh's next possession, a controversial play occurred with a pass from Charlie Batch to Heath Miller that culminated in a 87 yard touchdown run. Or so it seemed. Replays showed Miller's foot going out of bounds at the two yard line but it was called a touchdown by the refs. Nick Saban waited a bit too long to throw his challenge flag and the referees didn't see it when he did throw it. So the touchdown stood. This put Pittsburgh up 21 - 17 but were still 1 point shy of the -5 spread early bettors received.

The Dolphins were running out of time and had to ramp up their game with some field position on the next drive and then the critical play occurred: Dante Culpepper was looking to pass quickly after a blitz by Polamalu and off it went into the waiting arms of the Steeler's Joey Porter, who ran down the sideline for a touchdown to put the game at 28-17 with 3 minutes left in regulation. This gave all of the early bettors coverage of the spread and after a turnover by Miami on downs, Batch was able to take a knee to run off the clock for a Pittsburgh victory.

Overall, an exciting start to the NFL season and we can't wait for the rest of the weekend games.

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